Actually to my surprise we DO sell them! Not in store however but on our CTO or customer fulfillment. And in regards to using a computer at school about the 5 years and having a laptop last that long, I got a PowerBook G3 Pismo and am using it at school and its fantastic. It was introduced in 1999 and what its 2004 now, I'll still take it over any new Windows based laptop on the market. I don't plan on getting a new one until I graduate from college in 2006 just so I can take advantage of my student discount one last time.

Really, as far as Best Buy goes, I never push people to buy something they don't want, but I do think it is my responsibilty not even from an Apple user's standpoint but as a salesman in general, to let people know that there are other options out there. People come in complaining, I got spy ware I got virus, pop ups this and that so now I need a new computer. I'll tell them, yeah ok you can get a new computer and it'll work for a little while but your still going to be prone to those types of problems as long as your still using Windows. Then they'll listen hear what I have to say and it becomes an easy sell to get them a Mac. They can come pick it up in store or have it shipped to their home free of charge.

And as far as costs go, I had one lady come in from a college orientation looking to buy a computer for her daughter. She had her sights set out for this HP laptop, we had it advertised for $1,099 AFTER rebates. I looked at the sheet she brought from the University, and one of the recommended computers was an iBook. I told her in all honesty this laptop the iBook will be your better choice. And immediately she goes, No No No we don't want that one. I said ok thats fine, but since we are comparing these laptops we might as well compare them to the iBook and when I'm done telling you about it, I think your going to want this laptop. So she did listen and told me there was no reason why she wouldn't want the iBook. She loved the idea of her daughter using it at school without so much the worry about virus. Also, the size. I told her which one do you think your daughter will prefer carrying to class, an iBook that weighs 4.9 pounds or a brick HP weighing in at close to 9 pounds. I really had her sold on this laptop, actually the iBook just sold itself, the only thing that she didn't like was the 12 inch screen, she wanted something bigger but didn't want to spend the money. So she left to go ask her daughter which one she wanted and sure enough came back in an hour. The daughter didn't want the iBook she insisted on the HP. With the price of the HP, Norton Anivirus, the Best Buy security setup, extended warrenty cause HP laptops don't last that long, some software because it doesn't even come with an encyclopedia or built in Firewall! The total cost of that HP was close to 1700 bucks. She defintely could have got a 14 inch iBook for less than that. She wasn't happy, she wanted to save money and go for the iBook but the daughter didn't want it, so there you have it. People say Apple's are more expensive, I don't think so. As far as maintenance, the only money I put into my Pismo was some more RAM, an external hard drive, Jaguar then Panther and still runs like a champ.